I noticed particularly a lot of dark shots in the movie Double Indemnity directed by Bully Wilder. The settings “swallow” the characters up in the film in terms of how the characters are perceived as. Like the many stylistic characteristics of film noir, there is an emphasis on night rather than daylight. If we pay close attention, a lot of the movie is shot during the night and most scenes are really dark with minimal lighting. There are compositions created through the interplay between areas of light and dark. Most importantly, this movie is made up of the strong use of shadow and darkness.

~ by Avah Au-Yeung on October 4, 2011.

One Response to “Double Indemnity”

I really liked the film noir genre. As you said, the use of night and darkness is prominent throughout. In part, it’s due to the fact that we need tend to associate the nightlife and obscurely lit areas with those who are questionable morally. For these reasons, it just ‘feels’ more natural for our film noir players to occupy these spaces.

The way the settings “swallow” the characters as you mention is a very artsy move made by directors. It gives more ‘depth’ to our morally ‘gray’ characters. By ‘depth’ I do not mean in the physical sense, (although it may add dimension to their shadows) but by making them appear from darkness almost gives them a more demonic aura, as if they embrace it and derive from it…